The third annual CMG Media Cooperation Forum was held on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme “Deepening communication between Chinese and African civilizations and promoting a China-Africa community with a shared future in a new era”.

The gathering brought together various leaders and media stakeholders from both China and Africa, including Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping, President of China Media Group Shen Haixiong, who sent a video message, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Pingjian, Deputy Principal Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of ICT Juliana Yiapan, CEO of the African Union of Broadcasting Gregoire NDJAKA, among others.

Speaking at the forum, Hu noted that in recent years, China and Africa have been expanding the scale and fields of their cooperation, with the cooperation mechanisms continuously improved under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

He stressed that China and Africa shall consolidate consensus and tell stories about the China-Africa friendship.

“It is my hope that the Chinese and African media can work together to deliver more insightful and human-interest content. I also hope they can use accessible and communicative language in telling the stories of friendly communication, mutual benefits, win-win outcomes, and pursuit of dreams between China and Africa, in order to consolidate consensus and provide spiritual support to cooperation,” Hu said.

On his part, Shen called for greater collaboration between Chinese and African media in order to give the world a better understanding of both sides from an objective perspective.

“We will build a global public opinion environment that is fair, objective, positive and healthy so that we bring more stability and certainty to a fast-evolving world. We will promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and African civilizations so that our world blooms with diversity,” he said.

Yiapan, who attended the Forum as the official representative of Kenya’s ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, thanked China for working together with Kenyan media stakeholders to deliver noteworthy media content.

“CMG reporters have worked closely with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and we acknowledge the level of exchange of technology,” she said.

CEO of the African Union of Broadcasting Gregoire NDJAKA stressed the need for African media to work in collaboration with partners that allowed them to tell African stories from their own perspective.

NDJAKA affirmed the continent’s readiness to further strengthen media relations with China and to take lessons from China’s experiences over the years.

Other speakers also stressed the need for stronger cooperation between Chinese and Kenyan media stakeholders, with a focus on telling Chinese and African stories objectively.

At the CMG Media Cooperation Forum, CMG also officially unveiled the second edition of the “Great to Meet You” China-Africa Youth Short Video Contest.

The purpose of the event is to collect more excellent short video works, so that China-Africa exchanges can be fully demonstrated through the lens of the younger generation. Selected works will have the opportunity to appear on CMG’s main outlets and other mainstream media platforms in Africa.